Eye Candy #80 - "Repo! The Genetic Opera"

Repo! The Genetic Opera: Not for all tastes (definitely not for children), but ambitious as all get out, with the appropriate level of Grand Guignol, this rock opera shows us a future world where surgery has become a status symbol and everyone is beholden to Geneco, the provider of various replacement body parts, run by Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino). Geneco finances your body parts and sells you Zydrate, the drug of choice. All is well and good, unless you can’t make your payments, and then Geneco sends out the Repo Men to harvest back what they sold you. Nathan Wallace (Anthony Head, who was Giles from “Buffy”) is one such Repo Man, and single father. His daughter, Shilo (Alexa Vega), is confined indoors due to a blood disorder but escapes to the outside world, and into the sights of Largo and his freakish children and Largo has everything to do with what happened to Shilo‘s mother‘s untimely death, who was once his lover. A extremely broad cast with varying degrees of talent from Head and Sarah Brightman (what the heck is she doing here?) to Joan Jett to Paris Hilton as Amber, Largo’s surgery-addicted daughter, and horror movie alum Bill Moseley. The music suits the plot (I don’t have any background in opera, but I found it entertaining), it’s got over-the-top production design coming out its bum, and it’s utterly unlike anything I’ve watched all year (and I’ve watched a LOT of movies). Best thing Lionsgate has put out in years. Reminded me a lot of a prog rock concept album come to life, something akin to Queensryche or Rush. Woodchuck sez, “Definitely worth a look.”